https://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/balloon_juice_header_logo_grey.jpg00mistermixhttps://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/balloon_juice_header_logo_grey.jpgmistermix2012-02-06 07:38:432012-02-06 07:38:43Pete Lose It Now

Michigan’s governor is not a right wing nut job, and he ran a very centrist campaign. Of course there are those who believe every Republican is an extremist, but I don’t really feel like arguing with them.

Nice move having the actress (who looks Thai to me, not Chinese) speak in a fake Chinese accent. But then, I guess it’d all appeal to morons who see a direct correlation between federal deficits and the strength of the Chinese economy.

Which is not exactly insane considering, as someone pointed out, they elected that nutjob Gov after the auto industry was bailed out.

Edit – to Steve. I guess if that is true it is not predictive of what would happen to someone who isn’t hiding they are far to the right would do, but my impression was that he has at least governed pretty far to the right, and that to anyone paying attention to his past would have realized that would be the case, but I don’t live in Mich so it is not like I pay attention to the state day to day.

Sounded like an American accent to me, or at the very least a Chinese person who’s lived in America for a while. Chinese people who’ve lived in Australia sound noticeably different. She was speaking baby English in an attempt to sound more Chinese, which is some sort of racism double-play. Though when your Chinese person is wearing a straw hat over one shoulder as she bicycles through a fucking rice paddy, why not throw in every other racist trope while you’re at it?

@Steve: No, Steve, he’s not a centrist, which is why he fucked schools and now has a surplus, without any willingness to give any of that funding back to the schools. He’s the same “starve the beast”, screw the poor, screw anybody not rich, so long as we repeal regulation and keep the rich’s taxes down kind of guy.

@Linda Featheringill:
“South and east of China” would be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Rice paddies would actually be plausible for southern China, which is still near enough tropical for them. Further north, of course, people grow either the kind of rice that doesn’t need paddies or wheat.

@Chyron HR: It’s not “logic,” it’s two separate statements of opinion. Why you chose to alter the quote to try and make it look like an argument is beyond me, but it’s pretty dishonest.

The comments have pretty much proven my point. Among this crowd, every single Republican is an extremist whacko, so it’s pointless to have a debate. Plus I sense there are quite a few people whose expertise is based upon nothing more than a Maddow segment or two.

This is my view: Hoekstra is quite a bit farther right than Michigan’s current governor, he shows no signs of hiding his extremism for campaign purposes, and he will probably lose because of it. The election of the present governor had more to do with his centrist campaign and perceptions of the outgoing Democratic governor than with some shift of the electorate to the far right.

Hoekstra is yet another unemployed* Republican (like Mittens, Frothy, and N. Leroy) looking to get back on the government teat. So he can denounce it from the comforts of the Senate chamber and plush television studios (while enjoying iron-clad, platinum-plated health and pension benefits.)

(*He picks up some wingnut welfare as a part-time lobbyist for a Washington law firm and as a “distinguished fellow” at the Heritage Foundation.)

The most recent polling of the Michigan Senate race (EPIC/MRA, November) between Debbie Stabenow and this racist clown shows the incumbent with a 6 point lead, but under 50% (48/42).

Seriously folks, Snyder *was* the moderate R, compared to the clowns he ran against in the R primary.

So yeah, given that the Gov has done more than a few wingnut moves, as people have pointed out, it could have been even worse. But he’s plenty bad enough as is.

What it has really shown is that it doesn’t matter how “moderate” the executive is. As long as they are not a genuine RINO, they’ll “moderately” enable just about anything the wingnut legislative branch sends to their desk.

And that’s why a “moderate” Romney as POTUS, with the wingnuts in control of the House and Senate, is a recipe for disaster. He’ll just quietly sign almost any bill sent to him, The End. Newt would wave the pom-poms as the bills arrived, that’s the main difference between them.

As far as Mr. Hoekstroika, let’s put it this way: If Stabenow can’t honk his clown nose and bury him, she’d lose against a cardboard cutout of John Engler. I’m not getting the vibe that the state is way more wingnut than 2008, so Pete’s gonna need a bigger bomb to win.

And actually Snyder was the least nutty of the four candidates for the Rep nomination. They also had Hoekstra, Attorney General Mike “Admitted Felon” Cox, and Oakland County Sheriff Mike “I don’t care about overwhelming votes of the people, I’m gonna keep busting medical mj dispensaries and patients” Bouchard.

I’m guessing MI is a lock for Obama and Stabenow this year, and there’s a chance to win back a seat or two in the House. I’ll have to spend some quality time with DRA and the new State House districts to see if there’s a chance of taking back the House.

“I’m guessing MI is a lock for Obama and Stabenow this year, and there’s a chance to win back a seat or two in the House.” Don K – February 6, 2012 | 9:59 am

After Obama bailed out GM and Chrysler, Snyder ran against the hand-picked candidate of the UAW who ran a campaign touting his close agreement with the President. This helped him only lose by 19 points.

It’s Democratic incumbent Senator Debbie Stabenow who now polls with a 6-point lead over the racist Hoekstra. handsmile – February 6, 2012 | 10:21 am

Actually, in the November poll this refers to, 25% of those polled had never heard of Hoekstra. Only 1% hadn’t heard of Stabenow, so everyone in Michigan basically knows of her.

The main number in that poll indicated that 41% had a positive view of Stabenow, while 52% held a negative view. Based on averages 1 year out from elections, incumbents with that large of a spread tend to lose by more than 6 points.

Hoekstra was pretty blatant on this one. Using a young asian woman wearing a straw hat riding a bicycle through a rice paddy while trying to portray a young asian woman wearing a straw hat riding a bicycle through a rice paddy is totally racist. What’s next? Minstrels in blackface?

But, then again, we’ve got to think long and hard about calling republicans racists. If we do it too much, it might lose some of its dramatic impact.

I’m guessing he’s written off the Chinese-American vote altogether. Christ, what a dick.

In 2010 Michigan was only 2.4% Asian, and that includes Indians and other Indian-subcontinent neighbors.

But I think his ad will piss off more than just the Chinese. And I think it should be played to Asian voters across the US as a tasty sample of how the GOP treats basically anyone who isn’t white: a tokenized, 50’s Hollywood joke used to make white voters scared.

I’m pretty shocked at the naked racism. They really, really don’t get that America is already demographically changed forever. Just wow, so insular and white-privileged.

Your comment prompted me to examine the linked pdf file on the November 2011 EPIC/MRA poll.

Hoekstra’s name appears only on one question (#25): “If the election for US Senate were held today, would you vote for Hoekstra…or Stabenow….” On that question, as I wrote, Stabenow compiled a 6-point lead and her support has steadily increased since February 2011.

The question on name recognition appears nowhere on that poll, nor is there any question I could find on “Positive/Negative” views. Moreover, I am skeptical that 25% of Michigan resident poll-takers had never heard of a man who had served for 19 years in the US House (1993-2011), had held prominent committee roles there, and who had run a gubernatorial campaign, albeit unsuccessful, in 2010.

Why is everyone piling on Steve? I’m not getting what it is he said that was so horrible.

The election of the present governor had more to do with his centrist campaign and perceptions of the outgoing Democratic governor than with some shift of the electorate to the far right.

Unfortunately, I guess at this point some people only want to hear that voters went Republican in 2010 because they knew exactly what the Republicans would do. I’m still of the opinion that voters were stupid enough to believe Republican campaigns that pinky-swore they would totally be moderate.

You’re conflating favorable/unfavorable ratings with positive/negative job ratings. Of course, I’m not surprised that you would do that, since you’ve never been honest about anything since you started polluting these threads with your idiocy.

Stabenow’s favorable rating is 47%. Hoekstra’s is 26%. As usual, you lied about what the poll you pointed to says.

I know it’s uncomfortable when Mistermix has you bent over to blow a little sunshine up your ass and then the cold wind of reality comes up, but for your own good, you need to start accepting the inevitable.

Wow, impressive pile-on. For the record, there still are moderate Republicans at state and local levels. I’m totally on board with bashing the national level folks, as they are all either whackaloons or moral cowards, but there are plenty of folks in the lower echelons who are pushing back against the crazies. Not enough, obviously, but they’re there – but they don’t get much media time, and sure don’t make it to the national news much. I want a sane GOP – can we focus our ire on the sociopaths and whackaloons, rather than the merely misguided?

Thank you for providing a link to an article by a local television station (ABC affiliate WXYZ) on the November 2011 EPIC/MRA poll. The questions and figures cited there and by you appear nowhere in EPIC’s published poll results nor does the article link to that information. Such discrepancies suggest that this is hardly verifiable or reliable information.

“Debbie Spenditnow.” Good one, Pete Don’tspenditnow. (What’s going on there? They have the same name basically? Good job. Good stuff. Vote twice.) My favorite part of the ad is probably the Hoekstra campaign’s explanation of the ad:

The Hoekstra campaign called the advertisement “satirical” and explained the broken English in the video as a reflection of China’s increasingly competitive education system.

“You have a Chinese girl speaking English – I want to hit on the education system, essentially. The fact that a Chinese girl is speaking English is a testament to how they can compete with us, when an American boy of the same age speaking Mandarin is absolutely insane, or unthinkable right now,” Hoekstra spokesperson Paul Ciaramitaro told POLITICO. “It exhibits another way in which China is competing with us globally.”

AHHHHHHHH. HAHAHAHAHA. AHHHHHHHH. Yeah, no, totally. VERY satirical. VERY good exploration of the issue of EDUCATION. Everyone’s first reaction is going to be how smart this young woman is, and what a potential leader for China’s bright and competitive future. (And don’t even get me started on how ABSOLUTELY INSANE the idea of an American *cough*WHITE*cough* boy speaking Mandarin is. No, this ad is perfect.) The Hoekstra campaign doesn’t even need to rest its case because everyone is just like SUSTAINED. WE CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH

The information is in the pdf you linked to. For the “Do Not Recognize” number for Stabenow and Hoekstra, go to Page 3 and follow the Do Not Recog column down from the top. On the first row, you will see “Debbie Stabenow” 1%. The next name down is “Pete Hoekstra” 23%.

Baffling was my first reaction. It’s worth noting that we have yet to hold the primary run-off and Hokey’s going to probably win that, since the other Repub candidates have zero name recognition. Still, going out of the gate with what seems like xenophobic nonsense (this was Hokey’s $75K big splash) seems pretty ill-advised – especially given that Sen. Stabenow is a pretty sharp critic of Chinese trade policies.

Obama’s probably a lock here, carrying the big auto industry dependent metro areas, so hopefully Debbie gets to ride the coat tails a bit. Outside our mini bible belt area on the west side of the state, Hoekstra isn’t well-liked. He tried to ride the Bagger wave in the governor race and lost out to the ‘moderate’ Snyder. He’s our mean old white man equivalent of Bachmann.

Wait a minute, it sure looks like Hoekstra had this campaign ad outsourced/offshored to someplace that looks nothing like Michigan. Amirite? How about keeping the cash for that production on American soil? Unless you’re basically…. a racist.

As it appears you may be new to reading polls, don’t feel bad. It takes some time to get used to the formats and to know what to look for.

For an additional insight into a poll like this, notice that it was a survey of 600 adults. Polling “adults” is the lowest cost poll of this type and will give the pollsters the most favorable outcome for democrats. As those who are surveyed are narrowed to “registered voters” and then finally to “likely voters”, the costs increase and percentages favorable to democrats decreases.

Nice move having the actress (who looks Thai to me, not Chinese) speak in a fake Chinese accent.

I don’t know whether I’d prefer to think that Hoekstra’s ad-team was told to fuck off by all the Chinese-Americans they asked to do it, or that they hired that actress on the basis that all Asians look the same / the audience won’t know the difference.

It would be dishonorable not to concede my errors in reviewing the EPIC/MRA poll results as you indicated. Looking for a single separate question on the issue, I missed entirely the column “Do Not Recog” that appears on the poll’s questions 5-17. Also, I failed to see question #9 on Hoekstra. As to question #20, I read it as one on job approval (as you referred to it in your #94 comment) not on “positive/negative views” (your #74 comment), which usually connotes favorability.

I have read polls and poll results for many years (evidently here incorrectly) and need no lessons from someone childish enough twice to write “democrats.” While Democrats will struggle this year to retain their Senate majority, Stabenow’s seat is not one in jeopardy.

Michigan’s governor is not a right wing nut job, and he ran a very centrist campaign. Of course there are those who believe every Republican is an extremist, but I don’t really feel like arguing with them.

Just to throw out another possbility: I won’t vote for any Republican, for any reason, at this time. It’s not that I believe that *every single one* is an extremist, but they’re all supporting extremists, and you can’t trust ’em to do their job as they campaigned. Walker proved that.

Now, you might say “But ‘weirdo, how is anyone going to change the party from within if you don’t help elect the moderates on the Republican side when they’re running against, say, a Democratic tool?”

And my answer to that is, no one’s going to change the party from within at this point. Its only hope is complete collapse.

I really wish they’d nominate Newt. And I really wish Obama would say “Three hour debates? Cool.” And, when Newt left the hall starving (because Obama ate his lunch) and looking for a proctologist (because he got his ass handed to him), and went on to lose “all 57 states” – boy, didn’t that sound funny when he said it to himself in the mirror, and didn’t it *flop* during the debate – then, people might realize that, damn, the brand is ruined, time to rebuild.

Instead, they’ll nominate Romney, he’ll lose, and they’ll decide they didn’t nominate Newt, and that was the big problem.

@jwest: Yes, yes indeed. Because it was so key to the point of Our Jobs being taken by China that the spokesperson should be performing one of those key lost American jobs while she speaks about it: riding a bike through a paddy while wearing a cunning little hat. No racist tropes being employed here! Move along!

I know it’s uncomfortable when Mistermix has you bent over to blow a little sunshine up your ass and then the cold wind of reality comes up, but for your own good, you need to start accepting the inevitable.

So you’re not even going to address the fact that you took Hoekstra’s recognition number and Stabenow’s job approval ratings and pretended that both numbers were measuring the same thing?

As always, the “stupid or lying” question comes up. Given your history, I have to opt for “lying” once again, because I really find it hard to believe that someone who’s capable of turning on a computer can insist that we should compare Hoekstra’s name recognition with Stabenow’s job approval ratings.

Hoekstra’s got absolutely no pull in metro Detroit. Gary Snyder appealed to the recently converted conservaDems in Oakland and Macomb Counties by running as Milliken moderate. It’s the Hoekstras of the GOP who pushed those voters into the Democratic sphere in the first place.

That said, A West Michigan Republican like the recently retired Congressman Vern Ehlers could do alright on the east side of the state- if they had an inkling of charisma. Appealing to the Dutch, Russ’ chicken and rice soup crowd in GR is a lot different than appealing to the more socially liberal crowd in Birmingham.

@Steve:
Name any rethug running or elected at this point who is a centrist by their own actions. That’s any, anywhere. Fed, state, local.
I don’t care what bullshit comes out of their mouth, I care about what they mean and what they do.
Find me one and I’ll apologize to them, find me 5 and I’ll think about eating my socks.
Don’t strain your self doing all that heavy lifting.